Opening Slideshow for Personal Financial Literacy Unit

1. What Economics Is REALLY About

2.  Life is about choices and the choices we make
impact us now and in the future.
 Focus of lesson:
How do our choices about education,
career and income influence our future
options?

3.  What is Scarcity?
◦ Something is Scarce if it is limited and people
desire it
 What are Trade-Offs?
◦ The choices (options) we choose from
 What are Opportunity Costs?
◦ The value of the next best option we did not choose

4.  Read the story “A Mystery of Two Families”
and answer the questions
 So, why are the Robinsons wealthier than the
Murrays?
◦ Robinsons spend less than they earn
◦ Robinsons are saving for future, especially
retirement
◦ Robinsons are investing in their future by advancing
their earning potential
◦ Robinsons are investing in their children’s future

5.  1. People make choices
 2. All choices involves costs
 3. People respond to incentives in predictable
ways.

6.  4. People create economic systems that
influence choices and incentives
 5. People gain when they trade voluntarily.
 6. People’s choices have consequences for
the future.

7.  Name some decisions you might make now
that will impact you in the future?

8.  Most high school students believe school is
boring. Yet most students graduate from high
school.
 Why do students stay in school if school is so
boring?

9.  Let’s look at some reasons for dropping out
and staying in school.
 Choose “D” for dropout and a “S” for stay in

10. 1. High school dropouts can get a job and thus
provide more financial help for their families
than their friends in high school can.
2. High school graduates will have higher
incomes in the future than the incomes of
high school dropouts.
3. High school graduates are able to go on to
college.
4. High school students must follow school
rules, which limit freedom.

11. 5. High school dropouts can work full-time
and have a better car, clothes, and social
life than their friends in high school.
6. Parents are happy when their children
graduate from high school.
7. School activities, such as sports and the
arts, are fun for many students.
8. Increased knowledge opens up increased
choices and opportunities.

12.  Name some future consequences of deciding
to drop out of school AND stay in school.

13.  Focus: INCOME
 Two types
1. Wages
 what you get in exchange for your work
 sometimes earned as a salary
2. Rent (Payments received)
 given in exchange for using property (ex. Uhaul,
storage units, rent)

14.  Name some people you think have high
wages.
 Why are their incomes so high?

15.  Read “Why Some Jobs Pay More Than Others”